This continues to be a very difficult time for all of us and we thank you for your understanding and patience.
We are working hard at Stainland Road Medical Centre to provide care safely during coronavirus – adhering to NHS operational guidance. We are open - offering routine and non routine care but how this is offered may be different to pre-pandemic services.
If you need advice, please contact us by phone to be initially assessed rather than coming into surgery.
Please follow our safety advice if visiting us for a face to face appointment.
Do not come in to the surgery for your appointment if you have symptoms of coronavirus or are self isolating.
Due to the coronavirus outbreak, how you contact us will be different at the moment. This is to limit face-to-face contact whenever possible and help stop the spread of coronavirus. Stainland Road Medical Centre is open and if you need to consult with your GP, please ring us on 01422 374109 or visit our website – our opening hours are 08.00 – 18.30, Monday to Friday. You can also call NHS 111 or use NHS 111 online (https://111.nhs.uk/). Please do not come to the surgery unless you have an appointment.
Appointments are being delivered face-to-face, online and over the telephone. If you are asked to come into the surgery for a face-to-face appointment, please remember to wear a face covering. On arrival for a pre-booked appointment please check in at the touchscreen and take a seat in our waiting area.
Phone lines – are busier, therefore please persevere if it takes a longer time to answer or you need to redial. We are sorry for this but please be reassured that we are working as hard as we can and we will answer your call. You may be asked to discuss your condition with our reception team first, to assess what will be most appropriate for you and which member of the health care team is best placed to help you. Please be reassured of your confidentiality at all times.
Safety. Measures are in place to keep you safe from infection during your visit to the surgery. We are working together safely behind the scenes, with appropriate social distancing and hygiene, as well as remotely. Ensuring footfall in and out of the surgery is limited helps to protect you, to protect us and crucially, to ensure we can staff the building and protect our service. However, please be reassured that we have contingency plans with neighbouring practices in our Primary Care Network (Calder and Ryburn) if our service is compromised.
Business as usual. We are offering routine and urgent care in the usual way – but this may be delivered differently, with increased use of telephone consultation backed up by Smartphone video link or photographs. If you are waiting for a check up – please be reassured that we will be in touch with you.
We understand during these difficult times that access to our service may seem more difficult. By way of explanation - currently, much of our work is via telephone consultation. Whilst on the face of it, this may sound ‘easier’ – our experience is that telephone consultation is time consuming and is taking longer. This is because we are having to take more time to gain sufficient information in order to come to a safe, clinical assessment. We may ask for photographs or a video consultation in addition to this, which takes time. In some cases, we may need to add an examination to complete our assessment, in which case a face to face appointment will also be offered.
The surgery may appear quiet in view of fewer patients in the building and staggering of appointments, for safety. However, we are working flat out behind the scenes and are consulting at pre Covid levels. And we have the added difficulty that our work is slowed up by the new ways of consulting as well as needing to clean down between patients seen face to face and don and doff PPE.
Tolerance - there are many frustrations for you and for us during this period. We aim to treat you with the utmost care and politeness and are working as hard as possible to look after you and offer excellent care. We realise that it may feel as if barriers have been put in your way whilst accessing care – however, we would ask that you treat us kindly and with respect. We will work together to overcome any difficulties. We are grateful for the support of our Patient Group throughout the pandemic. Thank you for your understanding.